BARBOURVILLE, Ky.— The Montreat men's basketball team made up its previously postponed Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest against the Union Commonwealth University Bulldogs Saturday afternoon in Barbourville, Ky. After scoring just 11 seconds into the showdown, the hosts never looked back as they led wire-to-wire en route to an 87-71 victory. With the defeat, the Cavaliers fell to 14-8 (8-6 AAC) on the year.
 
Union Commonwealth (8-12, 4-10 AAC) scored on the game's opening possession and led the rest of the way. Jarden Maze drained a triple, and AJ Baskerville tallied a putback basket, but the Bulldogs nailed four looks from deep as they jumped out to a 16-5 lead five minutes into the matchup.
 
Down 24-10 midway through the half, the Cavs started to cut into their deficit. RJ Manginello, Dyllan Barnwell and Jack Keller each converted from the field as the visitors slashed the gap to 26-19; however, UCU mustered a 10-2 run in response to seize its largest lead of the half (36-21).
 
Manginello, who led Montreat with 11 points in the initial frame, scored eight of his squad's final 10 points, but the Bulldogs entered halftime with a 42-31 advantage.
 
Montreat registered buckets on its first three possessions of the second half, rapidly trimming Union Commonwealth's lead to five points at both 42-37 and 44-39. That proved to be as close as the Cavaliers could get for a while, however. The visitors came within five points of the Bulldogs on five separate occasions through the initial 11 minutes of the frame, but it wasn't until later that they could finally pull themselves within a basket.
 
Carrying the offensive load for a large chunk of the afternoon, Maze and Manginello combined for 26 consecutive Montreat points. Manginello's triple with 6:03 remaining capped off the sequence and brought the Cavs within four points at 67-63. Barnwell later sank a pair of free throws to end the Maze and Manginello scoring spree, and Keller notched two steals and layups that suddenly brought the score to 70-69 in favor of the hosts.
 
Despite momentum no longer being on its side, UCU's confidence never wavered. Leading by just a point with 4:33 remaining, the Bulldogs ended the game on a 17-2 run. Leaving no doubt down the stretch, the home team put the game out of reach as it claimed an 87-71 win.

"It matters how you start and how you finish, and we did not start or finish well," said head coach Anthony Barringer. "We fought, but when you get down 11 early, especially in conference, you must play almost perfectly to pull those games out. We cut it to one late and had chances to take the lead, we just didn't convert or get stops when we needed to. We have to play better. I have to coach better. We have to raise our level collectively."
 
Union Commonwealth shot an efficient 48.5 percent from the field (32-66 FG), 39.1 percent from deep (9-23 3-pt FG) and 77.8 percent from the line (14-18 FT). Meanwhile, Montreat went 25-for-75 overall (33.3 percent), 12-for-35 from beyond the arc (34.4 percent) and 9-for-14 at the stripe (64.3 percent). The Bulldogs owned the edge in paint points (40-20), rebounds (49-40) and assists (21-11). The Cavaliers committed fewer turnovers (14-10).
 
Maze and Manginello tied for a game-best with 24 points each. Manginello also dished out four helpers, while Baskerville led the squad with 11 boards.
 
Montreat concludes its three-game road trip on Wednesday at Columbia International University. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.